Wartburg College’s Writing, Reading, and Speaking Lab (WRSL) comes from a deep-seated tradition of writing centers in Iowa. While we continue to serve the basic functions of a traditional writing center. We provide an engaging and comfortable environment for students to come and learn. Peer consultants assist students through one-on-one interactive conversations in order to accomplish long-term im
provement in their writing, speaking, critical reading and thinking skills. This approach facilitates collaborative learning and enables students to accomplish clearer self-expression through communication, whether oral or written. As Jeff Golub puts it “Collaborative learning has as its main feature a structure that allows for student talk: students are supposed to talk with each other....and it is in this talking that much of the learning occurs.” (Golub, 1988)
Our philosophy is to work with students from all majors and abilities, and engage them where they are in their process – so, at all stages of a paper, speech or reading assignment. We offer a non-judgmental, individualized approach to each student, and also hope to engage in conversations with faculty as to how we can best support the learning process. We think that issues such as grammar and spelling, although important, have a lesser significance and impact on the overall clarity and quality of the piece. By focusing on global issues such as a thesis statement, organization and structure, we can more effectively guide students through the intellectual process through which they take an active role in their own growth and improvement; our goal being improving the writing process and skills of our students. By avoiding the use of temporary fixes on individual papers, we help students recognize how to address the issues themselves, and prevent similar errors from being repeated.
